


A Thousand Cranes [Re-Upload]

by punkfaerie



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon Divergent, De-Aged Characters, High School AU, M/M, Mutual Pining, Rating May Change, Slow Build, Slow Burn, but it is not underage, characters will be tagged as they're introduced, color guard AU, could not get my mind off this fic at all, hello yes this is a re-upload of my now deleted initial guard AU fic, im going to make this better this time around, it goes both ways at different points, it will develop don't worry, the mutual pining will be so hard in this fic, very slow bc we'll begin with Yuuri in tenth grade and end with him as a senior in high school, who knows tbh there's some intense pining coming in the future, winterguard au, yall would get it if you saw how much planning i put into this AU, you guys can imagine this takes place in texas since that's where i live
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-23
Updated: 2017-11-22
Packaged: 2019-02-05 20:55:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12802215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/punkfaerie/pseuds/punkfaerie
Summary: When you're on the floor nothing else matters anymore. Yuuri Katsuki would rather succumb himself to injury and adrenaline than give up his dreams. Victor Nikiforov can't find it in himself anymore, but he can somewhere else... Or more so in someone else. Together they make an unstoppable force of beauty, grace, aggression, and musicality.This is what they share together; this is winterguard.---The title comes from Aimachi Winterguard's 2015 show, in which they placed 4th in World Class.





	A Thousand Cranes [Re-Upload]

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, friends!!
> 
> Chances are you're here because you saw this fic and thought, "isn't that a fic that already exists?"
> 
> In that case, you are absolutely correct!
> 
> (Well, kind of.)
> 
> I deleted the original because I was simply unhappy with it and decided to start back at square one with this fic. So I'm terribly sorry to all of you who had initially followed the original upload of this, but I promise this time around it will be better. This fic was on an indefinite hiatus because of personal problems and now I'm struggling through my first semester in college. I have motivation to write again, especially this AU, because I'm back in the guard game and in a much more positive environment. (Hmu if y'all ever wanna know who I'm marching for the season!)
> 
> Thank you to those of you who supported the original upload. Your comments and kudos always made my day and motivated me to write. Someone left a comment on another fic of mine and inspired me to revisit my works. I felt like this would be the most appropriate to revisit first.
> 
> For those of you that don't know what color guard/winterguard is, it's a competitive sport that incorporates dance and equipment work together. Color guard goes with marching band while winterguard is a separate seasonal activity just for the guard itself. This fic is winterguard-centric (bc I am a s l u t for winterguard.)
> 
> Japan actually has a winterguard called Aimachi: https://youtu.be/Wm2nMRLr5xw They also have a winds group that competes. In my opinion they have some of the most beautiful shows but I hear they're now on an indefinite hiatus as well :( Their last show made me cry so much aysgdfbhlv,........
> 
> The show the Loophole performs is loosely based on this one: https://youtu.be/kK7iRK_BaPU and https://youtu.be/0o0ZaUjHcRE (where the Danse Macabre comes from also one of my all time favorite flag features.)
> 
> Not beta'd.

“Dut. Dut. Out!”

_ Thwack! _

It was unlike anything Yuuri had ever seen before.

“Five six seven eight and–”

_ Swoosh! _

Almost like these high school kids were painting the space around them.

“Third, fourth, fifth, stop!”

No – they were creating whole new things in the space around them.

Yuuri found himself drawn to the movements, the colors, the musicality – everything they did was so… beautiful. And dangerous. So thrillingly dangerous.

“Thank you so much for having us here today! I’m the head director of the high school color guard, Vera Lim, but my kids call me coach Vee,” the blonde lady standing between the bleachers and the large tarp smiled wide. The group of about thirty kids behind her laughed and smiled. Some had a bittersweet expression on their face.

“As you all know, this school year is coming to an end, which means so is this winter season. But that’s no sad story! The Axelia High School varsity guard, lovingly nicknamed The Loophole, is here today in hopes that you aspiring middle schoolers consider auditioning for the middle school guard or the fall season for incoming high schoolers next year!” the students around her whoop in excitement.

“And now, to give you a little taste of what we do, we present to you our second-place winning show,  _ Le Danse Macabre _ ,” the lady coach gestures to her group.

Only about half of the students on the gym floor were actually in uniform and made their way onto the middle of the huge tarp in the middle of it all. It was a solid black rectangle that faded into a royal purple color towards the center. There, the uniformed students lined up to make a perfect grid, each line one off from another. The rest of the ones that weren’t in uniform as amongst the crowd of middle schoolers.

“You’re in for a treat!” one of the high schoolers whispered as she sat down next to Yuuri. He shifted uncomfortably at the sudden intrusion of his personal space. “I’m Yuuko, it’s nice to meet you!” she smiled. Yuuri couldn’t help but smile back at the brown-haired girl as a blush crept over his cheeks.

“I–I’m Yu–Yuuri Katsuki,” he stuttered out.

“Oh! You’re the Katsuki kid my parents kept talking about!” Yuuri gave a confused glance but was quickly diverted to the show. The sudden oohs and ahhs began to intrigue him and he wanted to see what the fuss was about.

“Just keep watching,” Yuuko whispered to him without taking her eyes off the floor. It was amazing really; Yuuri had never seen so many dancers cover a space so intently, then all of a sudden there was one student clad in a black sequined unitard running out with what seemed to be a white gun looking thing. It obviously wasn’t real, Yuuri guessed wood or plastic, but he didn’t see what was coming next.

The soloist ran into the purple center of the floor, tossed the gun ( _ Is that a real gun? _ he thought nervously), did an intricate jump turn of sorts, then caught it perfectly horizontal as to when she first had it in her hands  _ and _ in a kneeling position. After that she ran off to the front edge of the floor to pull off her sleeve and opposite pant leg to reveal purple veiny looking designs on her. Suddenly he was distracted by the plethora of rifles leaving their hands as they twirled them in an intricate sequence. Yuuri had never been so amazed by anything in his life, and he was a boy that loved the art of movement.

“Isn’t it amazing?” Yuuko sighed. She giggled a little too, which made Yuuri realize he was gaping at their show with a wide open mouth. He snapped his mouth and swallowed sheepishly.

“The varsity team is really good. I can’t wait to join them!” she practically squealed.

“You’re not on the team?” Yuuri whispered back. He thought that the jacket she was wearing meant it was? Maybe she was–

“Oh no, I am. I’m not on the varsity team yet though. I’m a tenth grader, and I only started this year,” oh that explained it. Yuuri nodded at her response, not taking his eyes off the show one since the excited gasps caught his attention.

Now they were wielding… swords?

“Why do they have swords?” he harshly whispered.  _ First guns, now swords? Isn’t that unsafe? _ he thought to himself. He began questioning how dangerous this activity really was.

“Ah, a common misconception. They’re obviously not real and not sharp at all, but they are metal and hurt a lot when you mess up,” she remarks, “I still enjoy spinning them because I think they’re really pretty.” He guesses that she’s been asked that more than once and decided to wait until the end of the show to ask more questions.

For now he was drawn to the sudden appearance of flags and how they glided through the air with ease. He was amazed to see how they threw them up into the air with purpose and didn’t flinch at the obscure releases.

The show finally finishes with some members lying around the purple halo, some kneeling farther in, and finally a different soloist cradling a skeleton as if they did a deadly tango in the afterlife. Yuuri didn’t have the words to express how spectacular it all was.

“Yuuko I want to be in color guard!” he grabs at her arm excitedly. Yuuko only smiles at the younger boy.

“Okay!”

 

* * *

 

 

Yuuri was sore and he didn’t care. He couldn’t care until he at least got his fives out. His fingers stung and his knees were giving into his weight from standing in the same position for so long.

“Yuuri your rotations are still too much.”

“Yes ma'am!”

“Reset!”

“Five, and six, five six seven dut dut out!” Vee yells out.

_ Thwack! _

The gun hits his hand with a satisfying snap.

“That’s it Yuuri!” Vee beams at him. Yuuri’s glad he can finally get his fives out because it means he has a better chance and getting into the B-line this season. Auditions for weapon spots can be bloody, especially with all these returning upperclassmen. The bell rings for their class hour to end and Yuuko makes his way towards him, Takeshi following behind her.

“Yuuri I’m so proud of you! You’ve come so far!” she envelops him in a hug. Yuuko, now a high school senior, prided herself in the tenth grader she held in her arms.

“You could probably audition for an A-line spot this season. You’ve been spinning sabre since ninth grade!” Takeshi pokes at him. His tan face is wearing a shit-eating grin, he also wears the “trendy” sunglasses tan left over from marching band season.

“But I’m not ready!” Yuuri quips. He picks up his equipment and walks away with the two.

“I  _ just _ got my higher tosses out and my quads are still shaky. Vee can’t expect me to do anything under those tosses,” he sighs in nexasperation. He’d been freaking out about winter weapon line auditions since halfway through fall marching band.

“You just need to have a little faith in yourself,” Yuuko chides, placing a hand on his shoulder, “Vee sees so much potential in you – even Mina does.” He cringes at the mention of his ballet teacher. He picked up dance at a very young age but since getting into high school he’s been so determined to prove himself a better mover than anyone else. That ultimately lead to Minako becoming a sadist when it came to their one-on-ones, godson or not.

“Yep, just be careful with the stress eating otherwise if Vee picks another unitard your gut’s gonna show!” Takeshi jabs his fingers into Yuuri’s sides and the smaller boy hisses. Takeshi walks away to wherever he seems to be going off to. At this point Yuuri doesn’t even care.

“Don’t mind him, you know he thinks highly of you,” Yuuko ruffles his hair. He’s nearly taller than her, in fact they may be the same height now despite their age difference. “I really am proud of you, Yuuri,” and just smiles and shrugs back at her.

Yuuri picks up the rest of his stuff and walks into their locker room. He shoves his rifle and sabre into his locker and pulls out a fresh set of clothes to change into.

_ It’s not that I don’t want to make varsity A-line, it’s that it’s just too… too much for me right now _ , Yuuri thinks to himself. As a tenth grader, Yuuri had been the most proficient performer in the junior varsity team. In fact, he was so determined and skilled that by eighth grade he made the high school JV team rather than the middle school team, making him the only person of his group to do so. He wanted nothing more than to be on the best team and the best spot but he was so scared.

Scared of the higher tosses, scared of the awkards catches, the choreography, the time… but most of all he was scared of disappointing others. He was wonderful in practice but when it came to shows he flubbed greatly. It wasn’t that he was incapable, he just let his anxiousness get the better of him. He didn’t want to disappoint Vee or Minako. He especially didn’t want to disappoint Yuuko.

Pushing aside his thoughts, Yuuri gathered his school things and left to go to lunch.

**Author's Note:**

> Again, thank you for your patience and understanding with my fics. Questions, comments, and kudos are always welcome!
> 
> @ me on Tumblr: [wicthes](http://wicthes.tumblr.com/)


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